Oil Pollution From Ships Tort Liability System Study

As one kind of tort, oil pollution damage from ships is a special maritime tort. As the loss is usually great, the pollution damage caused by oil as a result of incidents has come to the international sociality's attention. The international conventions of civil liability have been made to such kind of tort, and a suit of effective compensation regime has formed. At present, China lacks an efficient compensation system for such oil pollution damage, it's necessary for China, which has a large amount of oil import, to establish a well and complete compensation system of law.Based on the principle of shared risk by the owner of ship and oil cargo, the relevant international convention has established a dual-subject compensation system. One system confirms the shipowner's liability in traditional tort field, and the other offers the supplemental compensation by the IOPC Fund. In this article, the author mainly aims at the first compensation system of civil liability for such tort, and does not intend to probe into the fund system in detail. The article, which is divided into four parts, first analyses the rules of foreign laws and international conventions relating to oil tort and the development of the latter, and then discusses the civil liability through two parts: liability cognizance and undertaking. Finally, the author puts forward some advices about China's oil pollution liability legislation based on the practice of claims in China.In chapter 1, the author firstly introduces the basic provisions of the relevant international conventions and foreign laws for oil pollution liability, compares their differences, illuminates the international development and characteristics of the foreign law. Then the author clarifies the oil pollution laws prevailing in China currently, points out the lack of legislation and goes into particulars in the application of relevant international conventions in China.In chapter 2, the author firstly discusses the particularity of the oil pollution tort, and then on the basis of theories of tort, studies the liability from three respects: subject of liabi'ity, doctrine of liability fixation and constitution of tort. Among them the author especially dissertates the constitution of tort from three respects: facts of damage, illegal act and causality. Finally, based on the forgoing dissertation, the article explores the civil liability of oil pollution damage caused by ship collision especially.In chapter 3, the author discusses the undertaking of liability from five respects: subject of claim, scope of compensation, limitation of liability, compulsory insurance and fund system. The author explicates the scope of compensation and subject of claim particularly, references the international practices and disputes in China of oil pollution damage claims.In chapter 4, the author puts forward some legislative advices according to the above discussion, which involve the application scope of law, subject of liability, doctrine of liability fixation and exoneration, scope of compensation, limitation of liability and compulsory insurance.